Icon Vortex

In February 2021, I was approached by the Interactive Media Lab Dresden, to create a tool for creating a certain kind of illustration. The image was to be used as a decorative cover element for the upcoming book Mobile Data Visualizations by B. Lee, R. Dachselt, P. Isenberg and E.K. Choe.

Dachselt envisioned a vortex of icons, loosely connected to the book's topic. After getting the pitch from my supervisor, we sketched out possible ways to achieve the desired illustration.

The design is built in 4 steps. The tool draws a number of rotating rings, along which a number of equidistant lines are drawn. Along said lines, a number of icons is positioned, which in turn are colored with solid colors or a gradient.

The tool uses Paper.js for rending and positioning the icons and Bootstrap for quickly setting up a control interface.